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Thursday, January 31, 2013

Good Lord, people have been calling for V.W. to pull its Super Bowl ad because some found it racist, and now Arab/Americans are calling for the Coca Cola company to pull its 'Coke Chase 2013' ad, also scheduled for the Super Bowl, because they believe it too is racist. Why? Because it shows an Arab man walking his camels in the desert, along with some Mad Max type motorcyclists, a bus load of Vegas showgirls and a bunch of cowboys all headed for a huge bottle of coke in the middle of a hot desert.

The president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), Warren David, asked:

"Why is it that Arabs are always shown as either oil-rich sheiks, terrorists, or belly dancers?"

Uh, why not? Arabs don't have camels? There aren't oil-rich sheiks? Or terrorists or belly dancers in the Middle East? His statement in and of itself is quite a put down, at least to belly dancers and oil-rich sheiks.

Perhaps they are taking umbrage with the fact that people can vote for which character should win the race except the Arab.

"The Coke commercial for the Super Ball is racist, portraying Arabs as backward and foolish Camel Jockeys, and they have no chance to win in the world," Imam Ali Siddiqui, president of the Muslim Institute for Interfaith Studies, said in an email.

and

"What message is Coke sending with this?" asked Abed Ayoub, ADC's director of legal and policy affairs. "By not including the Arab in the race, it is clear that the Arab is held to a different standard when compared to the other characters in the commercial," he said.

The way I see it, is the Arab is a calm observer watching the Westerners do whatever nastiness it takes to win the race. I'd be more upset at how they were portrayed than the Arab.

Ayoub said:

"I want to know why this happened and how can we fix this if possible before Sunday."

Here's my advice: learn the meaning of creative license and get a life.

Can someone please tell me in what way is this Super Bowl V.W. ad racist??

I hate to disappoint, but not all Jamaicans are black. There are also white and Asian people in Jamaica who have Jamaican accents. That being said, how then can white actors (and one Asian) using an accent constitute racism?

Back in 2010 during a speech at U.C. Irvine, Israel Ambassador Michael Oren was relentlessly heckled by a group of rowdy, disruptive, disrespectful Muslim students. They eventually left after some of them were escorted out. 11 of them- known as 'the Irvine 11'- were prosecuted for conspiring to disrupt and disrupting Oren's February 8, 2010 speech. Ten of them were convicted.

The students, who faced up to a year in jail on the misdemeanor counts, were sentenced to three years of probation, 56 hours of community service and fines.

Naturally, there were the typical cries of Islamophobia, and claims that their free speech rights were violated, but no mention of the flagrant attempts to censor Michael Oren.

Now the Irvine 11 have just filed an appeal, after having completed their community service. Not sure what they hope to accomplish, it's quite evident in the video below they violated Oren's freedom of speech.

Hopefully they have learned that everyone has a right to speak, even those they disagree with, but somehow I doubt it.

According to The Sun news over 5,000 Brits become Muslim every year, well over half are white, and 75 percent of those happen to be women. I have no clue what the appeal is, particularly for women, even after reading the reasons four Brit women converted to Islam, including a policewoman, a model, a student and a jobseeker. All four have different reasons for converting, the most understandable being the one who married a Muslim, the least being the one who converted after getting her heart broken by a Muslim man. All four have decided to show the world their decision by wearing the hijab.

This is 28-year-old police officer Jayne Kemp's story. She's the oldest of the lot:

But what would make someone want to change their lifestyle so dramatically? Police Community Support Officer Jayne Kemp left her Catholic roots behind after “falling in love” with Islam while helping victims of so-called honour violence.

JAYNE KEMP patrols her beat wearing a traditional hijab headscarf and even works extra time after shifts so she can attend Friday prayers at her mosque.

Devout Jayne converted to Islam last April and even plans to change her name to Aminah.

The single mum, who patrols Eccles, Gtr Manchester, as a Police Community Support Officer, says: “I thought Islam was all about women being forced to slave away in the kitchen — but I found out it was about being generous with your time, and patient and respectful of others.

“As I looked into it, I saw similarities with Catholicism and noticed values such as looking after your neighbours and cherishing the elderly, which is something older people say younger people don’t do any more.

“I wasn’t looking for any religion at the time but for every question I had answered about Islam, I had five more. I think I fell in love with it.”

Devoted Jayne even missed out on celebrating Christmas with her son, nine, and daughter, seven. She sent them off to their dad’s and cooked her own meal so it would be halal — the meat slaughtered in the manner prescribed by Sharia law.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

And from Bali, we have the 40-year-old married man who gets a 13 year-old girl pregnant and marries her to avoid getting into trouble with the law for getting her pregnant out of wedlock, not because what he did should be considered statutory rape, at the least. He's a pedophile for sleeping with a 13 year-old schoolgirl , but who's quibbling. The man, Wayan Cidra, already has two kids of his own, who are probably around the same age as his new bride.

The girl was 7 months pregnant when they celebrated their marriage. Apparently his neighbours reported him to the police, and they are now "investigating the case". Cidra insists the marriage was not "forced", that they just "liked each other", because 40 year-olds have so much in common with 13-year-olds.

Female students in Gaza strip are not too happy with a new Islamic dress code that will be enforced at the Al-Aqsa University next semester, even though 97% of them already do. Even they have problems with being forced to do something. Although administrators claim students will not be expelled for violations, and that they will merely be persuaded and lectured by faculty on the Islamic way of dress, who knows how long that will last.

One third-year student told Ma'an: "If I had known before that the university would impose Islamic dress, I would not have registered here in the beginning."

The woman, who declined to be named, said she does wear "Islamic" dress, but would not do so at anyone's order.

The dress code will be a little less restrictive than one would expect- no jilbab (long coat) or niqab (full face veil)- but will require loose-fitting clothing and long jackets. No mention of hijab in the Ma'an article, but I assume that too will be a requirement.

But it wasn't just the students themselves who are opposed to a mandatory dress code:

Meanwhile, the PLO denounced the decision, and said that it has dangerous social and political implications for Palestinian society.

In fact they took it one step further and said it was illegal and therefore "null and unenforceable".

Instead of lecturing the women on the "appropriate" way to dress, why not lecture the men on campus how to respect women.

I'm actually surprised it took this long, considering who is in charge of Gaza.

Holocaust deniers usually claim that the numbers of murdered Jews were highly inflated, but one of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi's advisers, Fathi Shihab-Eddim, actually believes it's a myth, and that all 6 million of them moved to the U.S. with the aid of the United States. Right, the country that did virtually nothing to go out of its way to help the Jews during that time.

“The myth of the Holocaust is an industry that America invented,” an aide to Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi said this week, Fox News reported.

“US intelligence agencies in cooperation with their counterparts in allied nations during World War II created [the Holocaust] to destroy the image of their opponents in Germany, and to justify war and massive destruction against military and civilian facilities of the Axis powers, and especially to hit Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the atomic bomb."

Of course all the physical proof of the Holocaust was simply an elaborate hoax perpetrated by the OSS (predecessor of the CIA), maybe with major help from Hollywood? And this person advises Morsi?

Combine ignorance with poverty and the selling and buying of child brides becomes a common occurrence in places like Afghanistan, even in spite of it being illegal to do so.

Taj Mohammed lives in the Qambar refugee camp near Kabul. He borrowed $2,500 from a distant relative to help his family during the long cold winter. The relative reneged on the loan asking for the money back, Mohammed didn't have it, so in lieu of repaying the debt, the distant relative gets Mohammed's 6 year-old daughter, Naghma, for his 16-year-old son.

He says he was struggling to come to terms with the loss of his three-year-old son and an uncle, both of whom died in the cold earlier this month, when the distant relative sent a message demanding his money back.

"He wanted his money back. But I couldn't pay. No-one would lend money to me," he says.

"Then a relative suggested that I give my daughter in lieu of money."

Naghma is too young to understand the ramifications of her father's decision.

"She only cries when we talk to her about it," Mr Mohammad says.

"If I can give my relative some money, then I can delay the marriage until Naghma is 14 or 16 years old."

The distant relative, Dost Mohammed, lives in the same camp as Taj and knows it's illegal.

"The government doesn't allow it," he says, but adds quickly: "I consulted the tribal elders and this is their decision."

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

A fascinating article by Jean Naggar on the Huffington Post about the forgotten Jews of Egypt, who lived well in that country until the Suez Crisis of 1956. The Jewish population in Egypt dwindled from 80,000 or so centuries ago to about 100 today. Both her parents, though not Egyptian born, lived there until the Suez Crisis.

She ends with the following:

Over the past 50 years, much ink has been lavished on the displacement of the Palestinians from their homes, but barely a passing glance has been accorded the displaced dispossessed Jewish communities of Egypt and other Arab lands. We were expected to move forward. We expected it of ourselves. As our ancestors have done from time immemorial, we reinvented ourselves. No international outrage from the nations of the world took up our cause. No effort at compensation was made. And so now, 50 years later, the forgotten Jews of Egypt and other Arab lands have begun to mine their own lives, exposing bittersweet memories and remnants of a beloved past to lead their children and grandchildren fully equipped into the future. It is time for the world to take notice, too.

Read the whole article here. Well worth it. Very sad to see what that country has become over the past decades.

She has written a book about her experiences. If you decide to purchase it (or anything for that matter), I get a few pennies.

Here's a good one. Some man in Pakistan is trying to get the Pakistani Ambassador to the United States- Sherry Rehman- charged with blasphemy because she wants the death penalty removed from the blasphemy laws. Faheem Akhtar Gill took his petition all the way to the Supreme Court where he has finally gotten some traction. The Asian Human Rights Commission has a petition and the following information regarding the case:

The Supreme Court of Pakistan, in its effort to gain popularity with the fundamentalists, has admitted a petition filed against Islamabad's ambassador to the United States of America for committing blasphemy by demanding the withdrawal of the death sentence from the blasphemy laws. The petition was filed by a business man from Multan, Punjab province. Mr. Faheem Akhtar Gill was infuriated after watching an interview of Mrs. Rehman and tried to lodge a case against her for committing blasphemy with the police. When, initially the police refused to accept the case he filed cases on different occasions in a session court and then finally in the High Court of Punjab where the honourable judges also rejected his plea to book Rehman. However the Supreme Court (SC) has taken up Gill's petition against Rehman for regular hearing and asked the police to conduct enquiries into the charges of her having committing blasphemy and report back to the Supreme Court. This creates doubts that the Supreme Court is, in fact, trying to influence the police to 'find' something against another ambassador to the USA.

There was no outcry within the country against Ambassador Rehman with regard to her comments but the Supreme Court without any concrete evidence has taken up the petition for hearing and again transferred it to the police for enquiry. In the initial stage the police already rejected the application of the petitioner as they did not find any concrete evidence of her having committed blasphemy. The question begs to be asked that if the police did not find any evidence before how it might be possible that it suddenly exists now.

Four years in prison wasn't enough for Sebastian Joe's blasphemy conviction, the West Javan Bandung High Court decided to add another year to the Ciamis District Court's, just for good measure.

The high court decided on Tuesday to give Sebastian a higher sentence as it used the 2008 Information and Electronic Transaction (ITE) Law as a lex specialis (special law), instead of the Criminal Code (KUHP) used by the district court, said Sebastian’s lawyer, Anang Fitriana, as quoted by tempo.co on Wednesday.

Apparently someone from the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) snitched on him when he wrote something on his Facebook page which was deemed insulting to Islam.

You can't find much information on the case, but someone commenting on the Jakarta Post article says he believes the status post that got Joe in trouble was:

What's up with Cherie Blair, former U.K Prime Minister Tony Blair's wife? The devout Catholic judge- who uses her maiden name Booth- chose to sentence 25-year-old Shamso Miah to a 6 month suspended jail sentence (for two years), and 200 hours of community service even though the man broke Mohammed Furcan's jaw after getting into an altercation while waiting in line at a bank.

So why did Miah get off virtually scott-free? Because Booth/Blair said he was "a religious man". Now she's in trouble with the National Secular Society (NSS) who reported her to the Judicial Complaints Office. Terry Sanderson of the NSS said,

'We think this is discriminatory and unjust and we wish to make a formal complaint about it. We feel it's wrong that someone so high profile as Mrs Blair, and she is very high profile as a Catholic, should make such remarks in court.

'The man was incredibly violent and broke someone's jaw for no apparent reason.

'She said that he would have got a six month sentence but was suspending it because he was a religious man and would know he was doing wrong, which we feel implies that a non-religious person wouldn't know it was wrong.

'We strongly feel that this kind of consideration should not play any part in sentencing. The idea that someone who is religious gets a lighter sentence is outrageous.

'The indications are that people are losing their religion very fast in this country, so it would disadvantage many people if they were treated more harshly in court than people who go to church.'

Apparently Miah had just attended prayers at the East Ham mosque when he got into a row with Mohammed Furcan over who was next in line. I guess that time in prayer didn't help much. Miah pummeled Furcan in the face and then made a run for it. Furcan followed him outside where Miah punched him again, this time breaking his jaw. At first Miah told police it was self-defence but those handy dandy CCTV videos proved otherwise.

He pleaded guilty, and Booth/Blair told him:

'I am going to suspend this sentence for the period of two years based on the fact you are a religious person and have not been in trouble before.

'You caused a mild fracture to the jaw of a member of the public standing in a queue at Lloyds Bank.

'You are a religious man and you know this is not acceptable behaviour.'

This man is in obvious need of some heavy duty anger management sessions, because obviously as devoutly religious as he might seem to be, going to a mosque does not a decent human being make. Look at all the radicals who attend mosque, they certainly haven't a clue what acceptable behaviour is.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Although an allegedly moderate Muslim nation, Indonesia has its share of Mullahs who are as backwards and misogynist as they get.

Most countries are trying to do away with female genital mutilation (FGM) which can cause young girls major physical problems when they grow up, and in some cases even death. The only reason to circumcise a young girl is for control and subjugation, so the practice continues. In fact, Indonesia legalized it in 2010, if performed by doctors or midwives.

The Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI) has petitioned the government to make sure the practice continues, claiming it's a constitutional right. Amirsyah Tambunan from the MUI said,

"Circumcision is a part of the Islamic teachings recommended for Muslims, both male and female. The MUI and Islamic organisation in the country firmly stand against efforts to ban female circumcision."

There is a huge difference between male and female circumcision, which is why the UN is trying to get its member states to ban it. The only reason it's performed on females is to control a woman's sexuality and desire.

Not everyone agrees about it being a religious obligation.

... the executive director of the Wahid Institute, Ahmad Suaedy, disagreed, saying that the practice was based on fiqih (Islamic jurisprudence) that could be interpreted differently by different ulemas.

“Female circumcision is not in the sharia. Maybe, the MUI drew their conclusions from a fiqih that was applied in a particular context and region,” he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Of around 444 foreign students studying in Pakistani madrassahs in Punjab province, around 289 are in the country illegally and 275 of those are in Lahore. And although the amount of foreigners studying in Pakistan plummeted after 9/11, the foreign ones have the Punjabi police force still worried, with good reason.

Many of the foreign students have been continuing their stay in the residential madressahs without fulfilling legal formalities, the field report said.

It suggested the Punjab government to direct local authorities to ensure the registration of foreigners at district police level to keep a watch on them on regular basis. Those found violating Pakistan’s immigration laws “should be sent back” to their home country.

The report partly blamed the administration of madressahs for not paying attention to the legal status of the foreign students on their rolls.

In the face of West’s ‘war on terror’- and description of the madressah system as “the breeding ground of Islamic extremists” – the former president Pervez Musharraf ordered, in 2005, that the foreign madressah students staying in Pakistan illegally must leave the country and the legal ones register themselves with the authorities.

Seven years later, the secret police has counted 444 resident foreign students in the madressahs all over Punjab. Interestingly the highest number, 135, came from Indonesia, the next highest were the 99 students from Thailand.

While the liberals are rallying around gun control, Milwaukee Wisconsin Sheriff David Clarke is urging citizens to get the necessary firearm training so they can defend themselves until police can get there.

In the following .30 second PSA, Clarke says:

"I need you in the game. With officers laid off and furloughed, simply calling 911 and waiting is no longer your best option," he adds. "You can beg for mercy from a violent criminal, hide under the bed, or you can fight back. ... Consider taking a certified safety course in handling a firearm so you can defend yourself until we get there."

However, not too many people are happy about it, calling it vigilantism.

Raheem Kassam, Executive Editor of The Commentator, has written a blistering critique of the use of an anti-Semitic cartoon in the Sunday Times, and on Holocaust Memorial Day of all days.

"For some, however, Holocaust Memorial Day is transfiguring into a day that ‘the Jews’ or ‘Israel’ (for they will use these terms interchangeably), are to be attacked or set up, completely leaving behind the idea that the country came into existence in the wake of the greatest single crime in history."

Referring to British MP David Ward's ignorant comparison of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict to the Holocaust, he goes on to say:

"But more to the point, who can blame them when some of the country’s smartest media outlets present Israel and its leaders in this particular light: the large-nosed Jew, hunched over a wall, building with the blood of Palestinians as they writhe in pain within it.

For this is exactly what the Sunday Times has today done; not simply treading the fine line between criticism and blood libel, but indeed spitting all over it, leaving it for dust, and careering head first into anti-Semitismsville.

“Will cementing peace continue?” reads the caption beneath the image of a Quasimodo-like Netanyahu. As if this half-hearted attempt at a pun would help masquerade the overt racism within the image. No."

The Danish furniture company IKEA is back in the news with a different controversy after women were photoshopped out of their Saudi print ads. This time the company pissed off a Thai transgender group with the following ad.

I think it's rather funny, unfortunately they don't, they think it's "negative and stereotypical".

The 20-second commercial shown on YouTube and on Bangkok's trains in December and January entitled "Luem Aeb" ("Forget to Keep Hidden"), was disrespectful to transsexuals, according to the Thai Transgender Alliance, which demanded an explanation from IKEA.

More lunacy from the UK's Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC).

A 43-year-old married Algerian terror suspect who has been in in Britain illegally since 1995- when he arrived in the country using a fake passport- and is admittedly a threat to national security, will remain in the U.K. because he's suicidal. According to Justice Mitting he has major depression and might just kill himself if he is deported so he needs to stay. He apparently tried once before, in 2005, when he tried to hang himself in his prison cell, so they're terribly concerned he might do it again. So what! Let him. The unnamed man doesn't dispute he's a threat, he supposedly supports the group involved in the recent hostage crisis massacre at the Algerian gas plant, has allegedly raised funds and arranged for fake passports and travel for terrorists, and yet the SIAC believes his human rights would be breached if deported? Justice Mitting, of course, is the same man who let hate preacher Abu Qatada stay in the country, a free man.

Mitting said of the suicidal Algerian terrorist:

'We are persuaded by it that the risk that G would commit suicide, especially after arrival in Algiers, is very high.

'It may be containable in the UK but no special arrangements have been negotiated with Algeria to cope with it.'

He did tell six other Algerians they have to get the heck out of the UK, though some believe they will probably continue to appeal. And more than likely they too will get to stay. England can then fill up with terrorists and hate preachers, all being supported by the British taxpayer.

Among the six men were two fundamentalists with links to an alleged 2003 plot to commit mass murder using the poison ricin and cohorts of hook-handed preacher Abu Hamza. [Snip] The six suspects ordered to leave the country claimed they would be at risk of torture or degrading treatment if returned to Algeria.

Among them is a regular visitor to the Finsbury Park mosque, who sided with hate preacher Abu Hamza, and a senior member of an Afghanistan training camp.

But Mr Justice Mitting said the court was 'satisfied that the Algerian state's assurances can be relied upon' in the case of these men.

Litigation has been going on for seven years, and Mitting said there was "as yet, no end in sight", but the Home Office wants them out, soon.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Someone has come up with a 'breathable' nail polish that is thrilling Muslim women because now the devout, conservative ones can color their nails. Apparently, they're not supposed to wear nail varnish because it messes with the whole idea behind pre-prayer wudhu (ritual ablution) whereby every part of the body (hands, arms and face) must be washed, and ordinary nail polish covers the nails. Not a good thing. I'm wondering, however, why devout muslimahs would even want to polish their nails. It seems a tad hypocritical that these women, who probably wear the hijab or possibly even the niqab, would even want to call attention to their hands. Isn't that the point of dressing modestly- I'm here, but don't look at me. But, it seems, they're itching to paint those nails, and before this innovative new nail polish came onto the scene it was a major pain in the butt.

Muslim professor Mustafa Umar explained on his blog The Evolution of Ideas that there is 'nothing intrinsically wrong with wearing nail polish,' the real issue is that this substance forms an impermeable barrier over the nails preventing water from getting underneath.

For years, women have been required to either remove and reapply polish for prayers every day, or wait to wear it during the week they have their period - when they're not allowed to pray.

But, Mr Umar said, 'this usually indicates to another person that a sister is undergoing her period, which can be very embarrassing for others to know.'

The urge to wear nail polish on a regular basis has become so strong, however, that some women have taken to to wearing stick-on nail polish that can be easily peeled off.

Remove the polish 5 times a day? Wow, that's dedication. And stick-on nail polish? Who knew.

So, step in Polish Inglot Cosmetics with their new permeable, breathable O2M to save the day. Apparently, you can even find it at Macy's here in the U.S.

The O2M polish uses a polymer used in some contact lenses, which allows oxygen and moisture to penetrate to the nail.
A student of Mr Umar's actually tested the product's validity by painting one swatch of regular polish and another of O2M's enamel onto a coffee filter, placing a clean coffee filter underneath.
When the polish dried, she squeezed drops of water onto each swatch, and waited ten seconds.
The filter beneath the standard polish was dry, as was the backside of the filter it was painted on. But it easily soaked beneath the O2M polish, and even wet the second filter - proving it is in fact, breathable.

That's pretty darn ingenious, actually. But I still want to know why a niqab-clad woman would want that attention.

For a little Saturday levity (though obviously not for those involved) here are some rather strange lawsuits from the Middle East. I was googling to verify one I saw on Al Arabiya today where a woman is suing her husband for threatening to post nude photos of her on Twitter and Facebook after they got into an argument, and then I found a slew of other equally strange ones.

Quoting a security source, Kuwait’s al-Rai newspaper reported that after the wife informed her family about the threats, her sister tried to mediate in the conflict and calm down the situation to avoid a looming scandal. But when she spoke with her sister’s husband, he threatened her as well, saying he would take nude pictures of her too and publish them.

At this point, the wife’s sister saw that the man must be deterred by law. She immediately went to the police station and filed a complaint. The man is now being sued for using telecommunication means to invade people’s privacy, according to the newspaper.

From Saudi Arabia we have this woman suing her husband for "vilification and extortion" after discovering he was posting photos of her along with disparaging comments on a social networking site, along with threatening and obscene text messages. At first he blamed his ex-wife, but it turns out he was having an affair with the ex and he was the only one who had access. The case has been in the court system for a year.

Another one from Kuwait, though I'm not sure what year. This time a man sued his wife for beating him. Sadly, domestic violence isn't only perpetrated against women.

Dubai in 2011, a woman was suing her ex-husband for a "loveless marriage". He had E.D and didn't tell her.

This is probably one of the most bizarre, though not from the Middle East. A Chinese man in 2012 divorced, then sued his ex-wife for giving him an ugly baby. He accused her of adultery which she denied. Apparently, prior to her marriage she had $100,000 worth of plastic surgery. He won a $120,000 settlement.

And just to be fair, this comes from the U.S. Last year a husband sued his ex-wife over her collection of 1,200 pair of designer shoes. He wants his portion of the worth.

18-year-old Adil Rashid has blamed his schooling in a madrassa and his strict Muslim upbringing for not having a clue that in England sex with a 13-year-old is illegal, He also blames his religion for his low opinion of women. He claims he was taught that women were “no more worthy than a lollipop dropped on the ground”.

Adil met the young teen on Facebook, struck up a friendship and waited two months before he arranged to meet her in downtown Nottingham before heading to a hotel in Nottingham for a little nooky. He traveled there from Birmingham, where he lives.

Police arrested Adil after the girl told a friend at school who then told a teacher who then told the police.

Julia Smart, defending, had told an earlier hearing that Rashid had been educated in a madrassa and had “little experience of women”.

The barrister said he told a psychologist after his arrest that he did not know having sex with a 13-year-old was against the law. Rashid told police that he had been “tempted by her”. The court was told he had later “felt bad” about having sex with her.

Judge Michael Stokes QC said: “He’s had an unusual education, certainly in terms of the sexual education provided. Comparing women to lollipops is a very curious way of teaching young men about sex.”

The judge added Rashid must have known it was illegal “unless he was going around with his eyes shut”. He also noted Rashid’s school taught that sex outside marriage is forbidden.

Judge Stokes described Rashid as “passive” and said sending him to jail might cause him “more damage than good”.

Tempted by her. Right. This is why these kids are so screwed up. Madrassas in non-Muslim countries should not be allowed.

Adil lucked out:

Rashid was sentenced to nine months in youth custody, suspended for two years.

If the photo is any indication, there were thousands upon thousands of protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square on the second anniversary of the Egyptian Arab Spring uprising. Last time around it was to protest President Hosni Mubarak and his regime, this time they were prostesting the Islamist they overwhelmingly voted for as president- Mohammed Morsi. The people are so disenchanted, the protests have once again turned very violent with some 100 or so wounded, and at least seven dead. As a result, troops are being mobilized in the Suez Canal. Protesters have stormed buildings and even torched one of the Muslim Brotherhood's.

Egyptian protesters on Friday stormed the governorate headquarters in the canal city of Ismailiya and attempted to storm two other buildings elsewhere, witnesses said. Protesters surrounded the governorate building in Damietta and in the Nile Delta city of Kafr el-Sheikh they stormed the courtyard of the governorate leading to clashes, witnesses told AFP.Meanwhile, the headquarters of the political wing of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), was torched in Ismailiya east of Cairo, an official told Al Arabiya.

[snip]

The Muslim Brotherhood said protesters also attempted to storm one of its offices in the Cairo district of Tawfikiya.

[snip]

Demonstrators outside the state television building in Cairo blocked traffic as marches of tens of thousands of people swarmed the capital, and tear gas was also fired at protesters in second city Alexandria.

I don't blame them, they fought long and hard for freedom, but did they really expect anything good to come of voting in to power the Muslim Brotherhood? And did the MB think the people would sit still while the little freedom they did have under Mubarak erodes even further.

Who would have thought those nasty little Islamist terrorists in Somalia, al-Shabaab, would have several Twitter accounts, with one in English to boot. Surely Western technology and social media would be considered un-Islamic, but I guess not when they can use it to disseminate information to their jihadist followers, including photos of dead infidels. One of those photos along with threats to kill Kenyan hostages, however, prompted Twitter to shutter the English account @HSMPress, although the Arabic and Somali-language ones are still functioning, and they just opened another @HSMPress_ account.

The Twitter account of Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents was suspended Friday, days after they posted photographs of a French commando they killed and threatened to execute Kenyan hostages.

A message from Twitter on the English-language @HSMPress account read that the account had “been suspended,” without elaborating.

However, the Shebab’s Somali- and Arabic-language accounts continue to operate, and the extremists used their Arabic account to denounce the suspension as censorship.

“This is new evidence of the freedom of expression in the West,” the message read.

On Wednesday the Shebab used the account to release a link to a video of several Kenyan hostages they said they will execute within three weeks if the Kenyan government does not release prisoners held on terrorism charges.

Earlier this month they posted graphic photographs of a French soldier killed during a failed bid to release a French agent whom the Shebab had held for more than three years. They later used Twitter to announce the hostage's execution.

French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault denounced the publication of the photographs as a “particularly odious display.”

Twitter warns that accounts can be suspended if they violate its rules, which include the publishing of “direct, specific threats of violence against others,” according to regulations posted on its website.

Users are also blocked if they use Twitter “for any unlawful purposes or in furtherance of illegal activities.”

Last year the Shebab used the account -- which was opened in December 2011, and most recently had more than 20,000 followers -- for a series of exchanges with Kenya’s army spokesman, taunting the Kenyans after they invaded southern Somalia to attack the Islamists.

Complaining about censorship? What a joke.

But they'll keep popping back up until they are eradicated, if that's at all possible. It will be the Islamist extremists and the roaches that will survive a nuclear war.

I do wonder, though, who really is running their Twitter accounts. Probably someone based in the U.K.

Friday, January 25, 2013

David Ward, a British Liberal Democrat party MP, caused a furor with the following statement to Asian Image magazine after signing the House of Commons Holocaust Educational Trust's Book of Commitment, and posting it on his website:

“Having visited Auschwitz twice – once with my family and once with local schools – I am saddened that the Jews, who suffered unbelievable levels of persecution during the Holocaust, could within a few years of liberation from the death camps be inflicting atrocities on Palestinians in the new State of Israel and continue to do so on a daily basis in the West Bank and Gaza.”

Comparing what is happening in Palestine to the Holocaust is not only outrageous it smacks of anti-Semitism.

Ward's statements come at a particularly sensitive time, and many will argue that the comments indeed are in breach of the European Union Monitoring Centre's definition on anti-Semitism, of which it is stated that, "Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust)" is a particular example of anti-Semitism.

Ward's comments may be said to fall foul of the definition, as they actively seek to contrast the Middle East conflict, which is indeed an ongoing conflict between various parties, with the oppression and mass slaughter of the Jews under Nazi Germany.

David Ward is the Member of Parliament for Bradford East, the constituency that neighbours George Galloway's Bradford West. Campaigners have told The Commentator that Ward's comments are 'disgusting, deplorable and factually inaccurate, bordering on anti-Semitism and breaching all levels of common decency in the run up to Holocaust Memorial Day".

David Ward MP has contacted The Commentator to make a statement, explaining that he believes, "The Holocaust was one of the worst examples in history man's inhumanity to man. When faced with examples of atrocious behaviour, we must learn from them. It appears that the suffering by the Jews has not transformed their views on how others should be treated."

Ward also went on to say that he does not believe juxtaposing the Middle East conflict with the Holocaust is conflating the two, and that he is due to attend a Holocaust Memorial event in Bradford later today.

But apparently members of the Liberal Democrat party have a penchant for criticizing Israel. Ward has also called Israel an "apartheid regime", which is factually incorrect, and Baroness Jenny Tonge said, "Israel is not going to be there forever". Ward also encouraged people to protest or boycott Israeli athletes during the 2012 London Olympic Games.

The Commentator did update their article:

UPDATE: The Liberal Democrat party has denounced Ward's statements. Telling the Guido Fawkes blog: “This is a matter we take extremely seriously. The Liberal Democrats deeply regret and condemn the statement issued by David Ward and his use of language which is unacceptable.”

UPDATE 2: David Ward has removed the offending statement from his website.

Anti-Semitism is alive and well in good old England, and not even from those you'd expect it from.

Amina al-Filali was the 16-year-old Moroccan girl who was victimized twice by being forced to marry the man who allegedly raped her- 25-year-old Moustapha Fellak. Not only had he raped her, he continued to be abusive during seven months of marriage, and she wound up committing suicide by consuming rat poison, although her mother believes she was forced to drink the poison.

Outraged by what happened to Amina, women's rights activists mobilized to make changes to article 475 of the Moroccan penal code which allows rapists to basically walk free if they marry their victims. The hard work of activists seems to have paid off: the justice ministry is finally poised to make some amendments to Article 475, along with considering harsher prison sentences for rape of minors. As it stands now:

Article 475 provides for a prison term of one to five years for anyone who "abducts or deceives" a minor "without violence, threat or fraud, or attempts to do so".

However, the second clause of the article specifies that when the victim marries the perpetrator, "he can no longer be prosecuted except by persons empowered to demand the annulment of the marriage and then only after the annulment has been proclaimed". This effectively prevents prosecutors from independently pursuing rape charges.
Any changes to the penal code must be approved by both houses of parliament.

Although the justice ministry argued at the time that the sex between the girl and her rapist was consensual, if true, wouldn't she have welcomed marriage? As for the marriage, the justice ministry had stated that the father had asked for the implementation of Article 475, and that Amina and Moustapha were agreeable, which then ended the rape investigation. Whereas the father claimed that the prosecutor had advised the girl to marry. Mum, of course, felt her child was dishonored (whether it had been consensual or not), and therefore not marriage material: "I couldn't allow my daughter to have no future and stay unmarried."

Initially, Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane wasn't too keen on changing the code, since it's not used very often, but the justice ministry has gone ahead with a proposal for an amendment. This has made activists happy, but only to a certain extent, since it doesn't go far enough.

The step was welcomed by the Moroccan Association for Human Rights."Changing this article is a good thing but it doesn't meet all of our demands," the organisation's president, Khadija Ryadi, told the Associated Press."The penal code has to be totally reformed because it contains many provisions that discriminate against women and doesn't protect women against violence," she added.Ms Ryadi noted that the new article proposed by the justice ministry distinguished between "rape resulting in 'deflowering' and just plain rape". Fouzia Assouli, head of the Democratic League for Women's Rights, said: "The law doesn't recognise certain forms of violence against women, such as conjugal rape, while it still penalises other normal behaviour like sex outside of marriage between adults."

Most laws in those countries favor men, including this one. Of course the rapist is going to consent to marriage, why wouldn't he, he gets off scott free for violating a young girl, marries her and can continue abusing her- which often happens- without punishment.

But rape victims in some countries have it even worse. In Afghanistan they have a choice of marriage or jail if they're not killed by their families first. Although she was eventually freed, 19-year-old Gulnaz was initially offered twelve years in jail, or marry her rapist. What a choice.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Allegations of a gay honey trap have surfaced in Georgia, levied against President Mikhail Saakashvili's military police force. Saakashvili is considered to be pro-West and pro-NATO, and has been praised for fighting corruption (although he's also been criticized for being somewhat authoritarian), so it's rather disappointing that he would be involved in something like this, but politics and power corrupt.

Georgian prosecutors claim President Saakashvili’s military police created a network of gay agents who started relations with famous people and later used blackmail to ensure their loyalty to the authorities.

The Georgian prosecutors’ office on Tuesday alleged the project involving gay agents had been instituted by the Military Police department of the Defense Ministry. Three top Military Police officers have been released on bail after appearing in court in connection with the case, the report said.

The prosecutors claim the former head of the Military Police, Legis Kardava, instructed some high-placed officials of his agency to gather information on homosexual men. Specially selected gay agents seduced their victims and took them to apartments equipped with audio and video recorders where they “secretly and illegally recorded fragments of private lives” of these people. After this the records were used to force the people to cooperate with the special services.

The investigators say the provocateurs chose famous people, though no names have been disclosed. It is also claimed that the ultimate objective was to force the Georgian celebrities into demonstrating loyalty to the existing political regime, headed by President Mikhail Saakashvili.

Prosecutors allowed some of the video from the case to be shown on national TV after the identities of participants were concealed.

Prosecutors also stated that the gay honey trap practice existed until the latest parliamentary elections that took place in October 2012. The poll was won by opposition party Georgian Dream and recent constitutional changes ensure that Mikhail Saakashvili has very little real political power even though he will remain on his post till October this year.

The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul was the worlds greatest Byzantine cathedral until the marauding, imperialist Ottomans converted it to a mosque in the 15th century. In the early 20th century it was turned into a museum, although religious Muslims want it turned back into a mosque. But I digress. Now Turks in Austria are complaining that Lego's 'Jabba's Palace' toy is racist and offensive to Muslims because the building looks like their Hagia Sophia mosque, conveniently or stupidly forgetting that the structure was originally a church, and more importantly based on the original Star Wars film structure, so, obviously not racist at all.

Jabba's Palace in Star Wars

The toy includes the 'palace' that the character Jabba the Hutt- from the Star Wars series- resides in, along with a watchtower. They also believe it resembles the Jami al-Kabir mosque in Beirut.

Apparently the outrage and backlash started after a Turkish man's son received the toy as a gift.

After investigating, Dr Melissa Günes, General Secretary of the Turkish Cultural Community, said that Lego had been contacted with an official complaint.

They have also taken offense to being shown as "deceitful and criminal personalities", and want an apology form Lego "for its cultural insensitivity".

A statement posted on the organisation's website refers to Jabba the Hutt as a 'terrorist' and says that he 'likes to smoke hookah and have his victims killed'.It adds: 'It is clear that the ugly figure of Jabba and the whole scene smacks of racial prejudice and vulgar insinuations against Asians and Orientals as people with deceitful and criminal personalities.'The statement says that the figures in the set are made to resemble 'terrorists, criminals and murderers'.Referring to weapons contained in the set, the statement suggests that the 'combination of temple building and bunker facilities where shots are fired cannot be appropriate for children between 9 and 14 years old'.

They will sue if they don't get an apology.

Lego's response:

Lego's Katharina Sasse said: 'The Lego Star Wars product Jabba´s Palace does not reflect any actually existing buildings, people, or the mentioned mosque.'The Lego mini-figures are all modelled on characters from the movie.'We regret that the product has caused the members of the Turkish cultural community to come to a wrong interpretation, but point out that when designing the product only the fictional content of the Star Wars saga were referred to.'

These people really need to get thicker hides. It's not always about them. It's a game, for goodness sake. And why were they not offended back when Jabba first appeared in the George Lucas films?

We've sent four F-16 fighter jets to Egypt, and plan on sending more? Really? After Morsi was outed for his anti-Semitic/Israel rants, and for criticizing Barack Obama? We're sending fighter jets to a country that is now run by Islamists, and borders Israel?

Four F-16 fighter jets left the U.S. this morning, bound for Egypt as part of a foreign aid package critics say should have been scrapped when the nation elected a president who has called President Obama a liar and urged that hatred of Jews be instilled in children.

A source who works on the naval air base in Fort Worth, Texas, confirmed the departure of the state-of-the-art fighter planes to FoxNews.com. Sixteen F-16s and 200 Abrams tanks are to be given to the Egyptian government before the end of the year under a foreign aid deal signed in 2010 with then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, a longtime U.S. ally.

Critics, including several in Congress, say it doesn't make sense to follow through with the package, given that new Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, elected last summer, has given decidedly mixed signals about relations with the U.S. While he has toned down his rhetoric since his election, in 2010 - the same year the aid package was struck - Morsi attacked Obama for supporting Israel.

“One American president after another — and most recently, that Obama — talks about American guarantees for the safety of the Zionists in Palestine," Morsi, then a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, said on Egyptian television in reaction to Obama's 2009 speech in Cairo. "[Obama] was very clear when he uttered his empty words on the land of Egypt. He uttered many lies, of which he couldn’t have fulfilled a single word, even if he were sincere — which he is not.”

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

An Albanian man who was responsible for three murders, an attempted murder, and was convicted in absentia of those charges by an Albanian court, has been in British custody for about a year. Albania wants him back, but for some reason the Brits are helping him fight extradition. Why?

An Albanian gangster convicted of three murders is still in the UK almost a year after his arrest and is now likely to claim asylum.

Ndricim Sadushi, 42, has been on the run for 15 years and is receiving legal aid in his fight against extradition back to Albania that is costing the UK taxpayer tens of thousands of pounds.

His case has been listed before judges 19 times during the lengthy court battle.

Westminster Magistrates' Court heard today there is a 'suggestion' he will appeal for asylum.

Sadushi was convicted in his absence in Albania of three murders and one attempted murder in 1997.

His case is being held up while assessments are carried out on his mental health.

At the hearing, Sadushi was ordered back to Belmarsh Prison, having spent just over a month undergoing assessments at Broadmoor mental hospital.

Anne Marie Kundert, for the Albanian government, said: 'This case has not been able to proceed as Mr Sadushi has been committed to Broadmoor hospital under the mental health act.

Here's MEMRI's latest video of Egyptians, including Muhammad al-Zawahiri, demonstrating in front of the French Embassy in Cairo threatening that "it will come to a bitter end" if the French don't withdraw from Mali- calling it aggression against Muslims. Of course, in their supreme ignorance, they see it that way, not that- in actuality- it's the Islamic extremists who are the aggressors against the people of Mali. They were doing just fine with their moderate version of Islam until the Islamists took control over the north.

Then again, one has to consider the source- Muhammad's big bro is Al-Qaeda's Ayman Al-Zawahiri.

At one point protesters chant "Khaybar, Khayber, Oh Jews, Muhammad's army is here." Anyone care to explain what Jews have to do with the presence of French troops in Mali?

You'd have to be pretty stupid to not know that foreign countries- particularly Muslim majority countries- have severe drug laws, in many cases the death penalty. Smuggling in and out of one of those countries isn't something you're going to want to do if you value your life. Usually you can chalk up the stupidity to youth- young kids who think they're invulnerable and may not realize what the consequences of their actions might be. Student Billy Hayes wrote about his experience in a Turkish jail in his book Midnight Express after first being sentenced to four plus years in jail and then life, which would have had him out in 30. He eventually escaped, and that story was made into a movie. Billy was trying to smuggle hashish out of Turkey and he was a young student in the 1970s. Lindsay Sandiford, the British grandmother who was caught trying to smuggle 4.8 kg of cocaine into Bali, is 56. She should have known better.

Apparently, she knew her punishment would be severe but she had no clue she would be executed. The prosecutors had asked for 15 years in prison, the judges handed down death by firing squad.

The former legal secretary from Redcar, Cleveland, was arrested at Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport last May after customs officers found 4.8kg of cocaine in the lining of her suitcase. She was put in an orange prison uniform and paraded in front of the media, along with the haul of Class A drugs.Police had already dangled in front of her an offer of leniency, in exchange for her helping them to net other alleged members of her smuggling ring. She accepted the offer, reportedly after considering it over a bowl of nasi goreng (fried rice with chicken and soy sauce) in a hotel room in the capital, Denpasar.A sting operation led to the arrest of three other Britons – Rachel Dougall, 39, her partner, Julian Ponder, 43, and Paul Beales, 39 – and an Indian, Nandagopal Akkinemi.However, a lack of evidence linking them with Sandiford led to Beales receiving a four-year sentence last month for cannabis possession and Dougall being jailed for 12 months for failing to report a crime.A verdict is expected in Mr Ponder’s trial tomorrow. He is charged with receiving the cocaine in Bali, which – despite publicity about the draconian penalties – has a thriving drugs scene, focused on bars and nightclubs frequented by foreigners.

Don't get me wrong, the death penalty is outrageous and hopefully the courts will reconsider, but she wasn't a poor dupe who had no idea what she was carrying in her suitcase. She was a knowing participant, although she did claim the reason she became a mule was because drug dealers in the UK threatened one of her kids. She also supposedly has mental health issues, but the judges had no mercy, even after being so cooperative. Who knows what the actual truth is.

She definitely does not deserve to be executed, and there's a good chance she won't be, but the country is trying very hard to fight the drug problem on the island. They probably feel that making their laws harsh is hopefully a deterrent, though obviously not enough of one.

Sandiford’s lawyers said they would almost certainly appeal, and they may be successful – death sentences are often commuted to long prison terms and Indonesia has not executed anyone since 2008. There are at least 40 foreigners on death row, most of them convicted of drug crimes, according to a report in March last year by Australia’s Lowy Institute for International Policy.

She's not the only one on death row for drug offenses: there are about 140, 1/3 of whom are foreigners.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Apparently in ultra-conservative Banda Aceh, where women straddling men on motorcycles is now a no-no, multiple police having sex with an alleged 'prostitute' isn't such a bad thing. The trouble is, the 19-year-old woman- that the three Indonesian police officers have said they paid for sex- claims she was force-fed methamphetamine, and then gang raped by the officers. Police officials are corroborating the officers' account, saying she was paid for the sex and enjoyed it. The girl's uncle disputes that.

Marhadin, the uncle of the alleged victim, said on Monday that the incident occurred last Thursday, when the woman arranged to meet one of the officers outside his rented room in the morning.

However, when they met, he and two other officers forced her inside the room, where they forced her to consume meth, Marhadin said.

“She was raped by one of them while the others watched,” he claimed.

He added that after the ordeal, the officers would not allow her to leave until late at night, and when they finally did let her go, she was still under the influence of the drugs and had to be hospitalized.

“We demand that the perpetrators be brought to justice for their heinous crime,” Marhadin said.

“We hope they are punished to the fullest extent of the law to serve as an example, so acts like these no longer occur.”

The police, however, insist there was no harm done because the sex was agreed upon beforehand and the officers had paid the victim afterward.

“After an investigation, the three officers admitted to violating this girl and paying her Rp 200,000 [$21] for the enjoyment,” Adj. Sr. Comr. Parluatan Siregar, the Simeulue Police chief, was quoted as saying in the Serambi Indonesia newspaper.

“So it wasn’t a rape. If she claims she was really raped by the officers, why didn’t she get a medical checkup done when she was in the hospital?”

He confirmed that the three officers had been placed in custody, not for the alleged sexual violence but for using meth.

“All three tested positive for using meth,” he said.

“They all agreed to use meth before [the sexual contact] so that they would enjoy it more. That’s what they claimed.”

So even though sex is forbidden outside of marriage in Islam and is punishable by Shariah law, it's okay- in this case- because they supposedly paid for it, or because they're police officers? What am I missing here? What part of Surah An-Nur, chapter 24 of the Quran do they not get?

1. A sūrah which Allah has sent down and made obligatory and revealed in it verses of clear evidence so you might remember.

2. The woman or man found guilty of sexual intercourse - whip each one with 100 lashes, and do not take pity on them in the deen of Allah, if you believe in Allah and the Last Day. And let a group of the believers witness their punishment.

3. The fornicator does not marry except another fornicator or polytheist, and none marries her except a fornicator or a polytheist, and that has been made unlawful to the believers.

4. And those who accuse chaste women and then do not produce four witnesses – lash them with eighty lashes and do not accept from them testimony ever after. And those are the defiantly disobedient,

5. Except for those who repent thereafter and reform, for indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.

They will however be punished for using meth, according to spokesman for the provincial police, Sr. Cmdr Gustav Leo, if found guilty. But forget the rape, or punishment for having sex with a prostitute, if she really was one, which is doubtful. They'll be far more interested in punishing women for straddling bikes.

A group of young extremist Muslims calling themselves the "Muslim Patrol" have been walking the streets of London in so-called "Muslim areas", accosting unveiled women, people carrying alcohol, harassing gay men, and vandalizing public property they find offensive, like bus shelters posting H and M ads of push-up bras. Two of their videos of the encounters that they had posted on their YouTube channel are no longer available, although others have posted them. You can also see both of them on Liveleak. A third one of them harassing a gay man is on YouTube, with a disclaimer.

The footage is likely to have come from East London, where 'Shariah zones' were set up last year. The new tactic of intimidation is said to appall local residents, who will likely find the 'patrols' disconcerting.In the videos, the 'Muslim Patrol' is heard to say, "Alcohol banned. This is a Muslim area. Muslims patrol the area."One young woman, when confronted by the patrol, states, "I am appalled, this is Great Britain", to which the authors of the video are heard to remark, "We don't care. It's not so Great Britain". Those involved are thought to be a part of an extremist network in East London and not linked to the wider Muslim community in the local area.

And the 'wider Muslim community' is apparently just as appalled by what these thugs are doing. Ibrahim Mogra from the Muslim Council of Britain condemned the vigilantes for their actions, as did Mohammed Shafiq:

...the chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, a Muslim organisation which campaigns for a peaceful co-existence among communities, has condemned the group's behaviour.

He said: 'We live in the UK and we are governed by UK law, there should be no mob rule. If people are involved in this behaviour then it is worrying but it is an isolated incident.'

If they are so enamored of Shariah and Muslim-only areas, perhaps they should pack their bags and move to Afghanistan.

In the West, the worst thing that can happen to a couple that marries without the approval of their families is being disowned. It does happen, someone marries outside their religion or class and the family breaks ties with that person. It's sad, but there is always the hope that eventually they will patch things up when the kids start arriving. But in Pakistan, the couple runs the risk of being killed. This is what happened to a young couple in Fauji Colony in Rawalpindi. A man, 27, and his young wife, 24, were allegedly strangled by the woman's family because they had eloped 18 months ago. Both families were against the marriage, but the bride's family was exceedingly so. What's particularly heinous about this honor killing was that they also strangled the couple's 7-month-old daughter. According to Inspector Malik Arshad,

“It is suspected the couple was sedated and then strangulated. However, the real circumstances would be determined by postmortem and forensic tests.” [snip]The woman’s parents lodged a case with Miana Gondal police station of Mandi Bahauddin against the man. But the case was withdrawn as settled after the couple stated to the area magistrate that they had a legal marriage and presented the nikahnama.

Apparently one of the brothers had tracked them down about 6 weeks ago to their new house, and pretended he wanted to reconcile, but all the while was plotting his revenge, along with several uncles. Allah Ditta, the brother of the murdered husband, was the one who found the family when he went to visit them on Sunday afternoon. Apparently, the woman's brother had actually been staying with the family for a few days before he killed them.

“Tea cups and other pots lay scattered around the bodies as if the victims had taken tea sitting on the floor. Some pieces of rope, papers – one of which was nikahnama – also were found at the crime scene when the police arrived there,” investigating officer Malik Arshad said.

There were no signs of any struggle or resistance by the victims, he said.

In his view, the tea might have contained sedatives and the victims strangulated later.

“Laboratory tests would determine the facts, however. Police collected forensic evidence like the tea cups, the pieces of rope and the nikahnama from the crime scene as case property.”

According to Allah Ditta:

“Accompanied by my brother-in-law, I had visited his (brother’s) house only the previous evening. Everything looked normal. The woman’s brother was there and chatted with me, without betraying any evil intentions."

“My brother had been facing life threats from the uncles of his wife. Although the case had been settled by the court of magistrate, they used to threaten him.”

No mention of whether they were both Muslim or the wife was Hindu or Christian, and why the families were so against the marriage. But if they eloped, it was a love marriage and not arranged, so that could have fueled the anger.

How's this for stupidity with a huge dose of irony factored in. The British taxpayers have paid millions for the legal defense of al-Qaeda terrorists who plotted to kill them. A whopping £30 million, in fact, was doled out for legal aid for the July 21 would-be suicide bombers along with other reprobates including serial killer Steven Wright.

Recipients of huge amounts include the July 21 bombers, a group of Islamist fanatics behind the 2006 airline liquid bomb plot and a string of fraud cases.

The former fugitive Asil Nadir - who rented a £23,000-a-month London residence during his trial - received £1,056,588 in legal aid.

Suffolk Strangler Steven Wright, who murdered five prostitutes in Ipswich, was given £444,220 to pay for his defence.

‘But when you look at costs involved in some cases, you have to ask whether we can afford to provide this level of support in criminal trials.

‘Criminal legal aid costs one billion a year, and at a time like this, you have to challenge whether we are getting appropriate value for taxpayers’ money.’

Now why was Nadir set up in a £23,000-a-month home, when he should have been staying at the local hostel, or better yet, in jail? And why aren't these criminals handed a legal aid defense attorney rather than the more costly QCs?

We have the 2006 liquid bomb plot gang to thank for the current 3-1-1 liquid carry-on restriction. Their defense cost the Brits £12,208 million, and because of re-trials, it cost an additional £14.758 million.

But it's not just terrorists who have availed themselves of free legal aid:

The figures also reveal the enormous cost of legal aid in complex fraud and money laundering cases - many of which involve very wealthy individuals.

It looks like Pro golfer Phil Mickelson might pull a Gerard Depardieu. French actor Depardieu had said he would move to Belgium because of the mega tax hikes levied against the wealthy French, but then decided to move to Russia after they extended an invitation to move there. He was even invited to join the Communist Party, and along with his brand spanking new Russian passport he gets a free apartment or a little plot of land. But Gerard already bought his land outside of Moscow and plans on building a wooden house there so he can fish.

Now Mickelson has said he might take a hike because of the impending tax hikes for the rich in this country.

“It’s been an interesting off-season. And I’m going to have to make some drastic changes. I’m not going to jump the gun and do it right away, but I will be making some drastic changes,” Mickelson said during a press conference following the Humana Challenge golf tournament in La Quinta, Calif.When pressed by reporters about whether those “drastic changes” could include leaving California or even the United States, the four-time major championship winner didn’t foreclose the possibility. But he made clear the reason he is considering such drastic options is the massive tax burden he now shoulders.

“But if you add up, if you add up all the federal and you look at the disability and the unemployment and the Social Security and the state, my tax rate’s 62, 63 percent. So I’ve got to make some decisions on what I’m going to do,” said Mickelson.

He does make bucket loads of money:

Mickelson has collected $73 million in career earnings according to Forbes magazine. His endorsements total $40 million per year.

If he does leave, he won't be the first rich person to escape higher taxes on the wealthy. Some have already moved out of the country and given up their U.S. passports. I'm sure there will be more to come.

Bruce Riedel, former CIA analyst, counter-terrorism expert and special adviser to NATO who knows his Middle East, has a message for Barack Obama and it's quite alarming.

He believes there's a possibility that Saudi Arabia is headed for its own Arab Spring, and that it would not bode well for the region. In a letter posted on the Brookings Institution website, he writes in his memo Revolution In Riyadh:

TO: President Obama

FROM: Bruce Riedel

Saudi Arabia is the world’s last absolute monarchy. Like Louis XIV, King Abdallah has complete authority. A revolution in Saudi Arabia remains unlikely but, for the first time, due to the Arab Awakenings, it has become possible. The Saudi royal family has unique strengths and legitimacy; the Kingdom was founded in the 18th century as an alliance between the royal family and an austere Islamic preacher whose followers still partner with the House of Saud to govern the state. Almost alone in the Islamic world it was never conquered by European imperialism. The King is the Custodian of Islam’s two holiest cities. And it has the world’s largest oil company and the world’s largest oil reserves. This combination of religious piety and vast revenues has so far been sufficient to stave off the kind of unrest that has shaken much of the Arab world in recent years.

Nevertheless, revolutionary change in the Kingdom would be a disaster for American interests across the board. As the world’s swing oil producer, prolonged instability in Saudi Arabia would cause havoc in global oil markets, setting back economic recovery in the West and disrupting economic growth in the East. Saudi Arabia is also America’s oldest ally in the Middle East, a partnership that dates back to 1945; the overthrow of the monarchy would represent a severe setback to America’s position in the region and provide a dramatic strategic windfall for Iran. The small oilrich monarchies of the Gulf would be endangered, as would the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

In honor of the Rev. Martin Luther King's birthday, here are some of his best quotes. He truly had a way with words. And he was a Republican, though he'd probably be considered a moderate by today's standards.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.""History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.""A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan."I say to you that our goal is freedom, and I believe we are going to get there because however much she strays away from it, the goal of America is freedom.Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?" Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?" And Vanity comes along and asks the question, "Is it popular?" But Conscience asks the question "Is it right?" And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right."Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.""Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.""Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.""Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.""Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.""Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.""Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies - or else? The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.""I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.""Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.""Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'""Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.""The time is always right to do what is right."and last but not least:"From every mountainside, let freedom ring. When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

UPDATE 1/21/13: Now there's word that the hostage takers came from Northern Mali, included some foreign fighters, and that they wanted hostages for negotiation clout regarding the situation in Mali. I'm sure the story will continue to change.

There is still no definitive death count for the attack on the Algerian Ain Amenas gas plant, but there is now some talk that it was more than likely an inside job. Supposedly there might have been as many as five, including a French national, working at the plant who aided the al-Qaeda-linked Islamists in carrying out the massacre at the behest of the one-eyed jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar. Of course, there's no way to determine how many of the foreign hostages were actually killed by the terrorists or by Algerian security forces during the military operation. We do know, however, that the terrorists targeted the Christian kuffars (non-Muslims), and some seem to think that the attack had been very well planned for a long time. Apparently, access to the plant was far too easy, and there were things the terrorists new that only someone on the inside would have been privy to, including the room numbers of the foreign workers.

‘The attackers knew the layout of the complex extremely well. They knew the names of the people responsible, the number of cars and who had keys.’

He also mentioned that the terrorists included mostly Algerians, along with an Egyptian, a Libyan, a Syrian, and several with "white skin" who spoke impeccable English that he thought might be Canadian. The IT worker went on to say:

‘The Algerian hostages were then allowed to leave. I was allowed to go but before I did, I saw many Brits killed. One Westerner trying to give first aid was blown up by the terrorists.' ‘When the army arrived, they were firing at everyone – terrorists and hostages – indiscriminately.'

The French 'inside man' apparently joined his comrades once they entered the complex, but was killed when the Algerian troops attacked the plant. Police are investigating the possibility that four other workers (who survived) might have been accomplices, as well.

There is also word that some of the terrorist hostage takers survived, and have been captured.

As things settle down, we will get more information along with a final tally of how many died, but if it was an inside job, that does not bode well for any foreign 'infidel' workers employed in Muslim majority countries. This could easily happen anywhere.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

An Afghan man tries to rape a married woman while the husband is gone, and what do her family do? They kill both the man and the woman, because of course she sullied their good name by almost being raped. Only in Afghanistan- where a woman is victimized twice. Where a rape victim has three choices: jail, marry the rapist or death.

According to local authorities in eastern Ghazni province of Afghanistan, an Afghan man was killed in a failed rape attempt along with the victim in Deh-Yak district on Tuesday.

District attorney general chief for Deh-Yak Mohammad confirming the report said the incident took place late Tuesday night in Shaadi Qala village.

He said, “A man was trying to rape a woman while her husband was away from home but the relatives of the woman kill her along with the man after they were informed of the incident.”

Sadly, it will never get better. And once we leave that country, it will only get worse, if that's at all possible.

So it's official, the presidential inauguration took place today and it's four more years of Barack Obama.

But several days ago, Jimmy Kimmel live took to the streets with "Lie Witness News" to ask the American public what they thought of the inauguration, which obviously had not taken place yet, and this is what they had to say.